Steel_Gin
Well-known member
Last summer I took a short trip (250 miles) on the OEM seat to see if my butt and seat could coexist on long trips. Well after about an hour and a half I had my answer, very uncomfortable, and I still had another two and a half hours to go. Since that was my only trip I had planned I wasn’t rushed to buy a new seat right away and I had plenty of time to do my research. All the reading of reviews, other riders write ups on this forum and seeing how fast they sold here I went with a Russell Day Long. In some of the reading I had seen someone usually organized a group buy so I kept a close eye out for one, was fortunate to come across one and got on the list (limited to 100 people & a 20% discount). Then the search began for seat pans, I didn’t want to convert the only seat I had just in case I didn’t like it. Plus I wanted to keep the OEM seat because I planned on using it for my everyday commute to work. Got lucky again, came across ExtremeMarine parting out his bike after a get off and landed a set of seat pans. (If he sells anything else, feel safe buying from him. Smooth transaction.)
Order was placed in January, shipped the seat to Russell and received the new seats early March. Put them on the bike and knew immediately I need handlebar risers; I was leaning forward a lot more compared to the OEM seat. Plus I had talked with the seat builder (Mike) who said I would need risers to move the handlebars up and back, I would be leaning forward a lot more because the seat is higher. (I’m 5’8” with a 30” inseam) So another round of research began and ended up going with a new Heli Tripletree.
All said and done I bought, seat pans, Russell Day Long seat, Heli Tripletree and paid my dealer to install the tripletree. I had a hard time spending that much money on something I haven’t seen in person let alone tried, I kept telling myself you did the research, so I just turned my head opened up the wallet. In the end I spent about $1000. Over the years I have taken long trips on four different bikes and none of them were comfortable. I went on a long trip about a month ago and this is the most comfortable I have ever been on a motorcycle. Two hours in to a 240 mile run I knew I made the right decision, went none stop for the full 240 miles and zero butt pain; I felt like I could have done another 240 right then. Now the only thing that will hold me back from a trip on my FJR is time and my wife.
I have read some people don’t like the Day Long because of the wings and I have to admit I wasn’t too fond of the seat for that reason as well. But the research kept pointing back to the Day Long. I came across a picture of the Day Long that caught my eye because the vinyl material looked similar to the OEM seat. My thought was, the wings are still there but the design on the vinyl still gave it the OEM look and it might offer some friction so I won’t slide around much, so I went with the vinyl basket weave with the half moon stitch. The first time I put the seat on my bike I was thinking how bad is this going to look. Well I was pleasantly surprised it didn’t look half bad in person. I planned on only using the Day Long only for trips but now I leave it on all the time. So if you think the wings look bad give it a second chance.
I didn’t see the vinyl basket weave listed on Russell’s website so I emailed them a picture of the seat I had seen asking if that was available. They replied back saying it was and said to write it in the comments section that I wanted the vinyl basket weave. The people at Russell are very nice to deal with and always responsive to returning a phone call or email. Great company to work with.
Yeah I spent a lot of money for comfort but it was worth it. Add in that I have a reasonable chance the triple tree (I kept the OEM triple tree) and seat will fit my next FJR makes it even better I can get many years out of this purchase.
Order was placed in January, shipped the seat to Russell and received the new seats early March. Put them on the bike and knew immediately I need handlebar risers; I was leaning forward a lot more compared to the OEM seat. Plus I had talked with the seat builder (Mike) who said I would need risers to move the handlebars up and back, I would be leaning forward a lot more because the seat is higher. (I’m 5’8” with a 30” inseam) So another round of research began and ended up going with a new Heli Tripletree.
All said and done I bought, seat pans, Russell Day Long seat, Heli Tripletree and paid my dealer to install the tripletree. I had a hard time spending that much money on something I haven’t seen in person let alone tried, I kept telling myself you did the research, so I just turned my head opened up the wallet. In the end I spent about $1000. Over the years I have taken long trips on four different bikes and none of them were comfortable. I went on a long trip about a month ago and this is the most comfortable I have ever been on a motorcycle. Two hours in to a 240 mile run I knew I made the right decision, went none stop for the full 240 miles and zero butt pain; I felt like I could have done another 240 right then. Now the only thing that will hold me back from a trip on my FJR is time and my wife.
I have read some people don’t like the Day Long because of the wings and I have to admit I wasn’t too fond of the seat for that reason as well. But the research kept pointing back to the Day Long. I came across a picture of the Day Long that caught my eye because the vinyl material looked similar to the OEM seat. My thought was, the wings are still there but the design on the vinyl still gave it the OEM look and it might offer some friction so I won’t slide around much, so I went with the vinyl basket weave with the half moon stitch. The first time I put the seat on my bike I was thinking how bad is this going to look. Well I was pleasantly surprised it didn’t look half bad in person. I planned on only using the Day Long only for trips but now I leave it on all the time. So if you think the wings look bad give it a second chance.
I didn’t see the vinyl basket weave listed on Russell’s website so I emailed them a picture of the seat I had seen asking if that was available. They replied back saying it was and said to write it in the comments section that I wanted the vinyl basket weave. The people at Russell are very nice to deal with and always responsive to returning a phone call or email. Great company to work with.
Yeah I spent a lot of money for comfort but it was worth it. Add in that I have a reasonable chance the triple tree (I kept the OEM triple tree) and seat will fit my next FJR makes it even better I can get many years out of this purchase.
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